The Director of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirko Kuprešaković, exchanged information with his colleagues from Serbia and Montenegro in Neum on the current state of migration in the three countries.
The meeting was attended by the Head of the Border Police Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, Dragan Samolovac, Acting Director of the Border Police Sector of the Ministry of the Interior of Montenegro, Dejan Bojić, and Director of the Service for Foreigners Affairs of BiH, Žarko Laketa, the BiH Border Police announced.
The topic of the meeting was also the recent joint operational operation “Koš” conducted by the BiH Border Police, the Border Police Sector of the Ministry of the Interior of Montenegro, and the Border Police Directorate of the Republic of Serbia in the wider area of the Metaljka International Border Crossing and the tri-border area of BiH, Montenegro, and the Republic of Serbia, with the aim of finding illegal migrant camps and persons who may be linked to organized criminal groups from the migrant population.
In this sense, at today’s meeting, an evaluation of the jointly implemented action was carried out, and on that occasion the interlocutors stated that the mentioned action was extremely well organized and coordinated, and that this first international action of all three countries, BiH, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro, is an indicator of successful cooperation and reliable partnership.
Mirko Kuprešaković pointed out that during the six months of 2025, members of the BiH Border Police discovered 1,556 persons illegally crossing or attempting to illegally cross the state border.
“Analyzing the statistical indicators for the six months of 2025, it can be concluded that, compared to the same period last year, a decrease in migration pressure by about 77 percent was recorded. The Border Police of BiH continuously undertakes measures and actions, invests additional efforts to, within its own capacities, and with the support and assistance of other police agencies in BiH, ensure an increased presence of police officers in monitoring the state border and all identified places of possible illegal crossing of the state border, especially on the border with the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro”, said Kuprešaković.
He emphasized that this BiH the police agency has exceptional cooperation with neighboring countries in all segments of work and will continue to further strengthen mutual cooperation.
Confirmation of good cooperation with neighboring countries are also joint patrols which, in addition to preventive measures, strengthening mutual trust and cooperation, more adequate use of human resources, achieve concrete results in the suppression of illegal migration and other illegal actions. Thus, during six months of 2025, 1,381 joint patrols were realized, 91 joint patrols with Montenegro, 784 joint patrols with the Republic of Serbia, and 506 joint patrols with the Republic of Croatia.
The meeting ended with the conclusion that good mutual cooperation will continue in the coming period, especially when it comes to the exchange of information that is extremely important for more effective action on the ground, especially when it comes to illegal migration and people smuggling, as well as responding to all threats and security challenges.
The aforementioned meeting was also supported by the EU4FAST project – EU support for strengthening the fight against migrant smuggling and human trafficking in the Western Balkans, the Border Police of BiH stated.
